James Anthony Froude - "Caesar: A Sketch"

William Pittenger - "Daring and Suffering:"

St. John G. Ervine - "The Foolish Lovers"

Elisabeth Woodbridge - "More Jonathan Papers"

Annual Bibliography of Commonwealth Literature 2007
This paper argues that discourses of love in Ghanaian market literature for youth offer a view into complex negotiations of agency and empowerment. Drawing on Deborah Durham's notion of youth as "social `shifters'" and Francis Nyamnjoh's conception of the "interconnectedness" of agency, I take Ghanaian market literature as one specific case of how African literature for youth foregrounds questions of continuity and change as African societies enter into increasingly complex global relations. In this literature for youth, received notions of love, often constructed out of impressions from American pop and hip hop music, carry new notions of agency that compete with existing "domesticated" forms. Authors like Ike Tandoh and Evelyn Tay employ discourses of love to offer youth alternative avenues for empowerment in a context of socio-economic disenfranchizement. In a creative process of "straddling", this writing both reveals and reproduces the contradictions that obtain in youth configurations of agency.

Tancred

B >> Benjamin Disraeli >> Tancred




The cavalcade, at a quick pace, soon gained the ascending and winding
road that conducted them to a tall and massy gateway, the top of which
was formed of one prodigious stone. The iron portal opening displayed a
covered way cut out of the rock, and broad enough to permit the entrance
of two horsemen abreast. This way was of considerable length, and so
dark that they were obliged to be preceded by torch-bearers. Thence they
issued into a large courtyard, the sunshine of which was startling and
almost painful, after their late passage. The court was surrounded by
buildings of different styles and proportions; the further end, and, as
it were, centre of the whole, being a broad, square, and stunted brick
tower, immediately behind which rose the granite peaks of the mountains.

There were some horsemen in the court, and many attendants on foot, who
came forward and assisted the guests to alight. Tancred and Fakredeen
did not speak, but exchanged glances which expressed their secret
thoughts. Perhaps they were of the same opinion as Baroni, that,
difficult as it was to arrive there, it might not be more easy to
return. However, God is great! a consolatory truth that had sustained
Baroni under many trials.

They were ushered into a pavilion at the side of the court, and thence
into a commodious divan, which opened upon another and smaller court, in
which were some acacia trees. As usual, pipes and coffee were brought.
Baroni was outside, with the other attendant, stowing away the luggage.
A man plainly but neatly dressed, slender and wrinkled, with a stooping
gait but a glittering eye, came into the chamber, and, in a hushed
voice, with many smiles, much humility, but the lurking air of a master,
welcomed them to Gindarics. Then, seating himself on the divan, he
clapped his hands, and an attendant brought him his nargileh.

'I presume,' said Tancred, 'that the Emir and myself have the honour of
conversing with the Lord Keferinis.' Thus he addressed this celebrated
eunuch, who is prime minister of the Queen of the Ansarey.

'The Prince of England,' replied Keferinis, bowing, and speaking in a
very affected voice, and in a very affected manner, 'must not expect
the luxuries of the world amid these mountains. Born in London, which
is surrounded by the sea, and with an immense slave population at your
command, you have advantages with which the Ansarey cannot compete,
unjustly deprived, as they have been, of their port; and unable, in
the present diminished supply of the markets, to purchase slaves as
heretofore from the Turkmans and the Kurds.'

'I suppose the Russians interfere with your markets?' said Fakredeen.

'The noble Emir of the Lebanon has expressed himself with infinite
exactitude,' said Keferinis. 'The Russians now entirely stock their
harems from the north of Asia.'

'The Lord Keferinis has been a great traveller, I apprehend?' said
Tancred.

'The Prince of England has expressed himself with extreme exactitude,
and with flattering grace,' replied Keferinis. 'I have indeed visited
all the Syrian cities, except Jerusalem, which no one wishes to see, and
which,' he added, in a sweet calm tone, 'is unquestionably a place fit
only for hogs.'

Tancred started, but repressed himself.

'Have you been in Lebanon?' asked Fakredeen.

'Noble Emir, I have been the guest of princes of your illustrious house.
Conversations have passed between me and the Emir Bescheer,' he added,
with a significant look. 'Perhaps, had events happened which did not
occur, the great Emir Bescheer might not at this moment have been a
prisoner at Stamboul, among those who, with infinite exactitude, may be
described as the most obscene sons of very intolerable barbarians.'

'And why did not you and the Emir Bescheer agree?' inquired Fakredeen,
eagerly. 'Why has there never been a right understanding between your
people and the House of Shehaab? United, we should not only command
Syria, but we might do more: we might control Asia itself!'

'The noble Emir has expressed himself with inexpressible grace. The
power of the Ansarey cannot be too highly estimated!'

'Is it true that your sovereign can bring five and twenty thousand men
into the field?' asked Tancred.

'Five and twenty thousand men,' replied Keferinis, with insinuating
courtesy, 'each of whom could beat nine Maronites, and consequently
three Druses.'

'Five and twenty thousand figs for your five and twenty thousand men!'
exclaimed Fakredeen laughing.

At this moment entered four pages and four maidens bringing sweetmeats
from the Queen, and goblets of iced water. They bowed; Keferinis
indicated their purpose, and when they had fulfilled their office
they disappeared; but the seasonable interruption had turned the
conversation, and prevented Fakredeen making a sharp retort. Now they
talked of the Queen, who, Keferinis said, would be graciously pleased
not to see them to-day, and might not even see them for a week, which
agreeable intelligence was communicated in the most affable manner, as
if it were good news, or a compliment at least.

'The name of the Queen's father was Suedia,' said Fakredeen.

'The name of the Queen's father was Suedia,' replied Keferinis.

'And the name of the Queen's mother----'

'Is of no consequence,' observed Keferinis, 'for she was a slave, and
not one of us, and therefore may with singular exactitude be described
as nothing.'

'Is she the first Queen who has reigned over the Ansarey?' inquired
Tancred.

'The first since we have settled in these mountains,' replied Keferinis.

'And where were you settled before?' inquired Fakredeen.

'Truly,' replied Keferinis, 'in cities which never can be forgotten, and
therefore need never be mentioned.'

Tancred and Fakredeen were very desirous of learning the name of the
Queen, but were too well-bred directly to make the inquiry of Keferinis.
They had endeavoured to obtain the information as they travelled along,
but although every Ansarey most obligingly answered their inquiry, they
invariably found, on comparing notes, that every time they were favoured
with a different piece of information. At last, Baroni informed them
that it was useless to pursue their researches, as he was, from various
reasons, convinced that no Ansarey was permitted to give any information
of his country, race, government, or creed, although he was far
too civil ever to refuse an apparently satisfactory answer to every
question. As for Keferinis, although he was very conversable, the
companions observed that he always made it a rule to dilate upon
subjects and countries with which he had no acquaintance, and
he expressed himself in so affected a manner, and with such an
amplification of useless phraseology, that, though he was always
talking, they seemed at the end of the day to be little more acquainted
with the Ansarey and their sovereign than when Baroni first opened the
subject of their visit to Darkush at Damascus.




CHAPTER LI.

_Queen of the Ansarey_

AWAY, away, Cypros! I can remain no more; my heart beats so.' 'Sweet
lady,' replied Cypros, 'it is surprise that agitates you.' 'Is it
surprise, Cypros? I did not know it was surprise. Then I never was
surprised before.'

'I think they were surprised, sweet lady,' said Cypros, smiling.

'Hush, you are laughing very loud, my Cypros.' 'Is that laughter, sweet
lady? I did not know it was laughter. Then I never laughed before.'

'I would they should know nothing either of our smiles or of our sighs,
my Cypros.'

She who said this was a girl of eighteen summers; her features very
Greek, her complexion radiant, hair dark as night, and eyes of the
colour of the violet. Her beautiful countenance, however, was at this
moment nearly shrouded by her veil, although no one could possibly
behold it, excepting her attendant, younger even than herself, and fresh
and fair as a flower.

They were hurrying along a wooden gallery, which led, behind the upper
part of the divan occupied by the travellers, to the great square
central tower of the quadrangle, which we have already noticed, and as
the truth must always, or at least eventually, come out, it shall not
be concealed that, availing themselves of a convenient, perhaps
irresistible position, the fair fugitives had peeped into the chamber,
and had made even minute observations on its inhabitants with impunity.
Suddenly, Fakredeen rising from his seat, a panic had seized them and
they hurried away.

The gallery led to a flight of steps, and the flight of steps into
the first of several chambers without decoration, and with no other
furniture than an Eastern apartment always offers, the cushioned seat,
which surrounds at least two-thirds of the room. At length they entered
a small alcove, rudely painted in arabesque, but in a classic Ionic
pattern; the alcove opened into a garden, or rather court of myrtles
with a fountain. An antelope, an Angora cat, two Persian greyhounds,
were basking on the sunny turf, and there were many birds about, in rude
but capacious cages.

'We are safe,' said the lady, dropping on the divan; 'I think we must
have been seen.'

'That was clearly impossible,' said Cypros.

'Well, we must be seen at last,' said the lady. 'Heigho! I never shall
be able to receive them, if my heart beat so.'

'I would let them wait a few days, sweet lady,' said Cypros, 'and then
you would get more used to them.'

'I shall never be more used to them. Besides, it is rude and
inhospitable not to see them. Yesterday there was an excuse: they were
wearied, or I had a right to suppose they were, with their travelling;
and to-day, there ought to be an excuse for not receiving them to-day.
What is it, Cypros?'

'I dare say they will be quite content, if to-day you fix the time when
you will receive them, sweet lady.'

'But I shall not be content, Cypros. Having seen them once, I wish to
see them again, and one cannot always be walking by accident in the
gallery.'

'Then I would see them to-day, sweet lady. Shall I send for the noble
Keferinis?'

'I wish I were Cypros, and you were---- Hark! what is that?'

''Tis only the antelope, sweet lady.'

'I thought it was---- Now tell me, my Cypros, which of these two princes
do you think is he who is one of us?'

'Oh, really, sweet lady, I think they are both so handsome!'

'Yet so unlike,' said the lady.

'Well, they are unlike,' said Cypros, 'and yet----'

'And what?'

'The fair one has a complexion almost as radiant as your own, sweet
lady.'

'And eyes as blue: no, they are too light. And so, as there is a
likeness, you think he is the one?'

'I am sure I wish they were both belonging to us,' said Cypros.

'Ah, me!' said the lady, ''tis not the bright-faced prince whom I
hold to be one of us. No, no, my Cypros. Think awhile, sweet girl. The
visage, the head of the other, have you not seen them before? Have
you not seen something like them? That head so proudly placed upon the
shoulders; that hair, that hyacinthine hair, that lofty forehead, that
proud lip, that face so refined and yet so haughty, does it not recall
anything? Think, Cypros; think!'

'It does, sweet lady.'

'Tell me; whisper it to me; it is a name not to be lightly mentioned.'

Cypros advanced, and bending her head, breathed a word in the ear of
the lady, who instantly, blushing deeply, murmured with a faint smile,
'Yes.'

'It is he, then,' said Cypros, 'who is one of us.'




CHAPTER LII.

_A Royal Audience_

OUR travellers were speculating, not very sanguinely, on the possible
resources which Gindarics might supply for the amusement of a week,
when, to their great relief, they were informed by Keferinis, that the
Queen had fixed noon, on this the day after their arrival, to receive
them. And accordingly at that time some attendants, not accompanying,
however, the chief minister, waited on Tancred and Fakredeen, and
announced that they were commanded to usher them to the royal presence.
Quitting their apartments, they mounted a flight of steps, which led
to the wooden gallery, along which they pursued their course. At its
termination were two sentries with their lances. Then they descended
a corresponding flight of stairs and entered a chamber where they were
received by pages; the next room, of larger size, was crowded, and
here they remained for a few minutes. Then they were ushered into the
presence.

The young Queen of the Ansarey could not have received them with an air
more impassive had she been holding a levee at St. James'. Seated on her
divan, she was clothed in a purple robe; her long dark hair descended
over her shoulders, and was drawn off her white forehead, which was
bound with a broad circlet of pure gold, and of great antiquity. On
her right hand stood Keferinis, the captain of her guard, and a
priestly-looking person with a long white beard, and then at some
distance from these three personages, a considerable number of
individuals, between whose appearance and that of her ordinary subjects
there was little difference. On her left hand were immediately three
female attendants, young and pretty; at some distance from them, a troop
of female slaves; and again, at a still further distance, another body
of her subjects in their white turbans and their black dresses. The
chamber was spacious, and rudely painted in the Ionic style.

'It is most undoubtedly requested, and in a vein of the most
condescending friendship, by the perfectly irresistible Queen, that
the princes should be seated,' said Keferinis, and accordingly Tancred
occupied his allotted seat on the right of the Queen, though at some
distance, and the young Emir filled his on the left. Fakredeen was
dressed in Syrian splendour, a blaze of shawls and jewelled arms; but
Tancred retained on this, as he had done on every other occasion, the
European dress, though in the present instance it assumed a somewhat
more brilliant shape than ordinary, in the dark green regimentals,
the rich embroidery, and the flowing plume of the Bellamont yeomanry
cavalry.

'You are a prince of the English,' said the Queen to Tancred.

'I am an Englishman,' he replied, 'and a subject of our Queen, for we
also have the good fortune to be ruled over by the young and the fair.'

'My fathers and the House of Shehaab have been ever friends,' she
continued, turning to Fakredeen.

'May they ever continue so!' he replied. 'For if the Shehaabs and the
Ansarey are of one mind, Syria is no longer earth, but indeed paradise.'

'You live much in ships?' said the Queen, turning to Tancred.

'We are an insular people,' he answered, somewhat confusedly, but the
perfectly-informed Keferinis came to the succour both of Tancred and of
his sovereign.

'The English live in ships only during six months of the year,
principally when they go to India, the rest entirely at their country
houses.'

'Ships are required to take you to India?' said her Majesty.

Tancred bowed assent.

'Is your Queen about my age?'

'She was as young as your Majesty when she began to reign.'

'And how long has she reigned?'

'Some seven years or so.'

'Has she a castle?'

'Her Majesty generally resides in a very famous castle.'

'Very strong, I suppose?'

'Strong enough.'

'The Emir Bescheer remains at Stamboul?'

'He is now, I believe, at Brusa,' replied Fakredeen.

'Does he like Brusa?'

'Not as much at Stamboul.'

'Is Stamboul the largest city in the world?'

'I apprehend by no means,' said Fakredeen.

'What is larger?'

'London is larger, the great city of the English, from which the prince
comes; Paris is also larger, but not so large as London.'

'How many persons are there in Stamboul?'

'More than half a million.'

'Have you seen Antakia (Antioch)?' the Queen inquired of Tancred.

'Not yet.'

'You have seen Beiroot?'

'I have.'

'Antakia is not nearly so great a place as Beiroot,' said the Queen;
'yet once Antakia was much larger than Stamboul; as large, perhaps, as
your great city.'

'And far more beautiful than either,' said Tancred.

'Ah! you have heard of these things!' exclaimed the Queen, with much
animation. 'Now tell me, why is Antakia no longer a great city, as great
as Stamboul and the city of the English, and far more beautiful?'

'It is a question that might perplex the wise,' said Tancred.

'I am not wise,' said the Queen, looking earnestly at Tancred, 'yet I
could solve it.'

'Would that your Majesty would deign to do so.'

'There are things to be said, and there are things not to be said,' was
the reply, and the Queen looked at Keferinis.

'Her Majesty has expressed herself with infinite exactitude and with
condescending propriety,' said the chief minister.

The Queen was silent for a moment, thoughtful, and then waved gracefully
her hands; whereupon the chamber was immediately cleared. The princes,
instructed by Keferinis, alone remained, with the exception of the
minister, who, at the desire of his sovereign, now seated himself, but
not on the divan. He sat opposite to the Queen on the floor.

'Princes,' said the Queen, 'you are welcome to Gindarics, where nobody
ever comes. For we are people who wish neither to see nor to be seen. We
are not like other people, nor do we envy other people. I wish not for
the ships of the Queen of the English, and my subjects are content to
live as their fathers lived before them. Our mountains are wild and
barren; our vales require for their cultivation unceasing toil. We have
no gold or silver, no jewels; neither have we silk. But we have some
beautiful and consoling thoughts, and more than thoughts, which are
shared by all of us and open to all of us, and which only we can value
or comprehend. When Darkush, who dwells at Damascus, and was the servant
of my father, sent to us the ever-faithful messenger, and said that
there were princes who wished to confer with us, he knew well it was
vain to send here men who would talk of the English and the Egyptians,
of the Porte and of the nations of Fran-guestan. These things to us are
like the rind of fruit. Neither do we care for cottons, nor for things
which are sought for in the cities of the plains, and it may be, noble
Emir, cherished also in the mountains of Lebanon. This is not Lebanon,
but the mountains of the Ansarey, who are as they have ever been, before
the name of Turk or English was known in Syria, and who will remain as
they are, unless that happens which may never happen, but which is
too beautiful not to believe may arrive. Therefore I speak to you with
frankness, princes of strange countries: Dar-kush, the servant of my
father, and also mine, told me, by the ever-faithful messenger, that it
was not of these things, which are to us like water spilt on sand, that
you wished to confer, but that there were things to be said which ought
to be uttered. Therefore it is I sent back the faithful messenger,
saying, "Send then these princes to Gindarics, since their talk is not
of things which come and go, making a noise on the coast and in the
cities of the plains, and then passing away." These we infinitely
despise; but the words of truth uttered in the spirit of friendship will
last, if they be grave, and on matters which authorise journeys made by
princes to visit queens.'

Her Majesty ceased, and looked at Keferinis, who bowed profound
approbation. Tancred and Fakre-deen, also exchanged glances, but the
Emir waved his hand, signifying his wish that Tancred should reply,
who, after a moment's hesitation, with an air of great deference, thus
ventured to express himself:

'It seems to me and to my friend, the Prince of the Lebanon, that we
have listened to the words of wisdom. They are in every respect just.
We know not, ourselves, Darkush, but he was rightly informed when he
apprised your Majesty that it was not upon ordinary topics, either
political or commercial, that we desired to visit Gindarics. Nor was it
out of such curiosity as animates travellers. For we are not travellers,
but men who have a purpose which we wish to execute. The world, that,
since its creation, has owned the spiritual supremacy of Asia, which
is but natural, since Asia is the only portion of the world which the
Creator of that world has deigned to visit, and in which he has ever
conferred with man, is unhappily losing its faith in those ideas and
convictions that hitherto have governed the human race. We think,
therefore, the time has arrived when Asia should make one of its
periodical and appointed efforts to reassert that supremacy. But though
we are acting, as we believe, under a divine impulse, it is our duty to
select the most fitting human agents to accomplish a celestial mission.
We have thought, therefore, that it should devolve on Syria and Arabia,
countries in which our God has even dwelt, and with which he has been
from the earliest days in direct and regular communication, to undertake
the solemn task. Two races of men, alike free, one inhabiting the
desert, the other the mountains, untainted by any of the vices of the
plains, and the virgin vigour of their intelligence not dwarfed by the
conventional superstitions of towns and cities, one prepared at once
to supply an unrivalled cavalry, the other an army ready equipped of
intrepid foot-soldiers, appear to us to be indicated as the natural
and united conquerors of the world. We wish to conquer that world, with
angels at our head, in order that we may establish the happiness of man
by a divine dominion, and crushing the political atheism that is now
desolating existence, utterly extinguish the grovelling tyranny of
self-government.'

The Queen of the Ansarey listened with deep and agitated attention to
Tancred. When he had concluded, she said, after a moment's pause, 'I
believe also in the necessity of the spiritual supremacy of our Asia.
And since it has ceased, it seems not to me that man and man's life have
been either as great or as beautiful as heretofore. What you have said
assures me that it is well that you have come hither. But when you speak
of Arabia, of what God is it you speak?'

'I speak of the only God, the Creator of all things, the God who spoke
on the Arabian Mount Sinai, and expiated our sins upon the Syrian Mount
Calvary.'

'There is also Mount Olympus,' said the Queen, 'which is in Anatolia.
Once the gods dwelt there.'--'The gods of poets,' said Tancred. 'No; the
gods of the people; who loved the people, and whom the people loved.'

There was a pause, broken by the Queen, who, looking at her minister,
said, 'Noble Keferinis, the thoughts of these princes are divine, and in
every respect becoming celestial things. Is it not well that the gates
of the beautiful and the sacred should not be closed?'

'In every sense, irresistible Queen, it is well that the gates of the
beautiful and the sacred should not be closed.'

'Then let them bring garlands. Princes,' the Queen continued, 'what the
eye of no stranger has looked upon, you shall now behold. This also is
Asian and divine.'

Immediately the chamber again filled. The Queen, looking at the two
princes and bowing, rose from her seat. They instantly followed her
example. One came forward, offering to the Queen, and then to each of
them, a garland. Garlands were also taken by Keferinis and a few others.
Cypros and her companions walked first, then Keferinis and one who had
stood near the royal divan; the Queen, between her two guests, followed,
and after her a small and ordered band.

They stopped before a lofty portal of bronze, evidently of ancient art.'
This opened into a covered and excavated way, in some respects similar
to that which had led them directly to the castle of Gin-darics; but,
although obscure, not requiring artificial light, yet it was of no
inconsiderable length. It emerged upon a platform cut out of the natural
rock; on all sides were steep cliffs, above them the bright blue sky.
The ravine appeared to be closed on every side.

The opposite cliff, at the distance of several hundred yards, reached by
a winding path, presented, at first, the appearance of the front of an
ancient temple; and Tancred, as he approached it, perceived that the
hand of art had assisted the development of an imitation of nature: a
pediment, a deep portico, supported by Ionic columns, and a flight of
steps, were carved out of the cliff, and led into vast caverns, which
art also had converted into lofty and magnificent chambers. When
they had mounted the steps, the Queen and her companions lifted their
garlands to the skies, and joined in a chorus, solemn and melodious,
but which did not sound as the language of Syria. Passing through the
portico, Tancred found himself apparently in a vast apartment, where he
beheld a strange spectacle.

At the first glance it seemed that, ranged on blocks of the surrounding
mountains, were a variety of sculptured figures of costly materials
and exquisite beauty; forms of heroic majesty and ideal grace; and,
themselves serene and unimpassioned, filling the minds of the beholders
with awe and veneration. It was not until his eye was accustomed to the
atmosphere, and his mind had in some degree recovered from the first
strange surprise, that Tancred gradually recognised the fair and famous
images over which his youth had so long and so early pondered. Stole
over his spirit the countenance august, with the flowing beard and
the lordly locks, sublime on his ivory throne, in one hand the ready
thunderbolt, in the other the cypress sceptre; at his feet the watchful
eagle with expanded wings: stole over the spirit of the gazing pilgrim,
each shape of that refined and elegant hierarchy made for the worship
of clear skies and sunny lands; goddess and god, genius and nymph,
and faun, all that the wit and heart of man can devise and create, to
represent his genius and his passion, all that the myriad developments
of a beautiful nature can require for their personification. A beautiful
and sometimes flickering light played over the sacred groups and
figures, softening the ravages of time, and occasionally investing them
with, as it were, a celestial movement.

Copyright (c) 2007. topboookz.com. All rights reserved.